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Different faces of cigarette butts, the most abundant beach litter worldwide.

Environmental science and pollution research international 2022 Score: 35 ? 0–100 AI score estimating relevance to the microplastics field. Papers below 30 are filtered from public browse.

João Pinto da Costa João Pinto da Costa João Pinto da Costa João Pinto da Costa João Pinto da Costa João Pinto da Costa João Pinto da Costa João Pinto da Costa Maria Christina B Araújo, Jacqueline S Silva-Cavalcanti, João Pinto da Costa João Pinto da Costa João Pinto da Costa João Pinto da Costa João Pinto da Costa João Pinto da Costa João Pinto da Costa João Pinto da Costa João Pinto da Costa João Pinto da Costa João Pinto da Costa João Pinto da Costa João Pinto da Costa João Pinto da Costa João Pinto da Costa João Pinto da Costa João Pinto da Costa Monica F Costa, João Pinto da Costa Vanessa Reis, Vanessa Reis, Vanessa Reis, Vanessa Reis, João Pinto da Costa João Pinto da Costa João Pinto da Costa João Pinto da Costa João Pinto da Costa João Pinto da Costa João Pinto da Costa João Pinto da Costa João Pinto da Costa João Pinto da Costa João Pinto da Costa João Pinto da Costa João Pinto da Costa João Pinto da Costa João Pinto da Costa João Pinto da Costa João Pinto da Costa João Pinto da Costa João Pinto da Costa João Pinto da Costa João Pinto da Costa João Pinto da Costa João Pinto da Costa João Pinto da Costa João Pinto da Costa João Pinto da Costa João Pinto da Costa João Pinto da Costa João Pinto da Costa João Pinto da Costa João Pinto da Costa João Pinto da Costa João Pinto da Costa Jacqueline S Silva-Cavalcanti, Vanessa Reis, Vanessa Reis, João Pinto da Costa João Pinto da Costa Armando C Duarte, João Pinto da Costa João Pinto da Costa João Pinto da Costa João Pinto da Costa João Pinto da Costa João Pinto da Costa Vanessa Reis, João Pinto da Costa Teresa A Rocha-Santos, João Pinto da Costa João Pinto da Costa Violeta Girão, João Pinto da Costa

Summary

Cigarette butts collected from an urban beach were characterized at different stages of physical and chemical degradation, revealing they shed cellulose acetate microplastic fibers and leach toxic chemicals as they break down. As the most abundant beach litter worldwide, cigarette butts represent a significant but often overlooked source of plastic fibers and chemical contamination in marine environments.

Study Type Environmental

Cigarette butts (CBs) are non-biodegradable residues of synthetic origin, prevalent on beaches all over the world. The study evaluates discarded CBs on an intensely used urban beach, determining variations in physical and chemical characteristics. CBs collected were observed, classified, and visually separated according to a proposed scale of four levels of degradation to test the potential match between physical and chemical decay. CBs (un-smoked, smoked, and discarded) were used to determine the average length (cm) and mass (g) in order to observe changes in these parameters among the levels. Cigarette butts experience consecutive mass loss during environmental exposure. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images were obtained to assess physical changes in fibers due to smoking. FTIR-ATR was used to assess CBs new (un-smoked), smoked, and discarded samples in relation to cellulose acetate decay. The FTIR-ATR spectroscopy of the most visually degraded cigarette butts indicated modifications in the spectra when compared to un-smoked cigarettes.

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